ZIP 81621 vs ZIP 81656

This side-by-side compares ZIP 81621 (Basalt, CO) and ZIP 81656 (Woody Creek, CO) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 81621 has a population of 5,914 at 10 people per square mile, while ZIP 81656 has 242 at 89 per square mile. That difference in population size and density alone reshapes how every other metric should be interpreted — a higher-income ZIP with 1,200 residents behaves very differently from one with 45,000.

On income and education, ZIP 81621 reports a median household income of $104,754 against $250,001 in ZIP 81656, with per-capita income of $64,753 vs $169,739. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 59.1% in 81621 and 53.9% in 81656. Poverty rate reads 7.9% vs 4.6%, and unemployment 2.7% vs 0.0% — these four fields alone drive most of the difference in the scorecard grades you will see for each ZIP.

Housing separates these two ZIPs further: median home value sits at $1,136,600 in 81621 versus — in 81656, with median rent of $2,316 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 68.4% vs 100.0%. When reading the comparison table below, focus on paired metrics rather than single winners — a ZIP with lower home values and lower income is not strictly "worse" if rent-to-income ratios and commute times land in the same zone. Every value is pulled from the exact same ACS table so the two columns are genuinely comparable.